BRCGS Pest Control Documentation
BRC guidance is clear that pest control paperwork stays on site, under your control, at all times. This page walks the file section by section: what each document is for, what it must show, and where sites come unstuck on audit day.
At a Glance
A BRCGS pest control file holds the evidence that your pest management programme works. As a minimum it contains the service contract and specification, emergency and out-of-hours contacts, a signed and dated plan of numbered devices, the pest risk assessment, a report for every visit, a pest sightings log, trend analysis of catch data, recommendations and corrective actions with completion dates, product data and COSHH assessments, and the annual in-depth survey. It stays on site, under the company’s supervision.
The File, Section by Section
BRC’s best practice guideline lists what the pest control file should hold. Grouped the way an auditor works through it, the list falls into six sections.
The agreed scope, pests covered, visit frequency justified by risk, response times and reporting duties, plus the emergency and out-of-hours contact details.
A plan of the full site with every numbered device marked, signed and dated, matching the bait checklist and the wall, and reviewed at least annually.
Written for this site against layout, process, raw materials and pest history, with a follow-up matrix setting response times for each level of risk it identifies.
One report per visit showing its type, number and date, findings, products and quantities used, actions taken, recommendations and both signatures.
A sightings log that staff actually use, plus catch data trended over time with a written interpretation and thresholds that trigger a defined action.
Recommendations tracked to closure with dates, product labels, safety data sheets, COSHH assessments, insurance certificates and technician training.
What a Report Must Show
BRC’s guideline sets out what each visit record should include. A report missing any one of these is usually the first thing an auditor picks up.
Routine, follow-up or call-out, numbered in sequence and dated, with the technician’s name so every entry can be traced.
What was seen and where, including infestation evidence, proofing defects, hygiene issues and any legal requirement triggered.
The name, quantity and location of every pesticide applied, cross-referenced to the COSHH assessment and safety data sheet.
The corrective work carried out on the visit itself, so the file shows what was done on the day, not only what was found.
Proofing, hygiene and maintenance tasks for your team, each with an owner and a completion date agreed before the visit ends.
Signed by the technician and your responsible person, with the proposed date of the next visit or any follow-up works.
How We Build It
BRC guidance says sites should see blank report folders before a contract is awarded. Shield shows you the full report set and the live portal at survey stage, before you commit.
Every device carries a number and QR code tied to a location, department and zone, so the plan, the checklist, the readings and the wall all describe the same site at every visit.
Each visit report is completed on site, signed by your responsible person and uploaded before the technician leaves, with photographs of findings attached wherever they help.
Catch data is trended by point, department and site, with thresholds agreed at contract start and a written interpretation, so the file explains exactly what the numbers mean.
Where Files Fail
Most pest control non-conformances are paperwork findings. The pests were under control; the file could not prove it.
Devices moved or added on site and never updated on the signed site plan.
A gap in the numbered sequence and no record of why a visit was missed.
Staff saw activity and told someone, but nothing reached the sightings form.
The same recommendation repeated visit after visit, with no completion date.
Data sheets for products no longer used, and none for the ones in use today.
Routine visits on file, but no annual survey by a qualified specialist.
Our Method
Most sites come to Shield with a file already in place and an audit on the calendar. A field biologist starts by checking the existing folder against the BRC documentation list: whether the plan matches the wall, whether the risk assessment reflects the current process, which recommendations are still open and whether the product data is current.
You get a written gap list with owners and dates. The site is then surveyed, devices renumbered where needed and the new plan signed and dated, so the file is complete from the first Shield visit rather than rebuilt the week before your audit.
AI Pest Management
Insectram holds the whole BRCGS pest control file in one place: the contract, the signed site plan, the numbered device list, every visit report, the sightings log, trend analysis, open and closed recommendations, product data sheets and COSHH assessments.
Management see real-time data for a single site and consolidated across every site they run, so a rising count or a missed action is caught early rather than found at audit. Auditors can be given direct access for the audit period, reading the evidence at source instead of printed extracts. Every technical decision stays with your BPCA-qualified technician.
The Annual Review
BRC guidance expects the pest control system to sit in your internal audit schedule and be checked at least annually. The review asks whether the contract still fits your certification, whether visits happened at even intervals, whether the plan and bait checklists are current, whether data sheets exist for every product in use, and whether actions raised by the contractor and your own staff have been closed out.
Shield prepares this review with you each year, so the answers are already in the file when the auditor asks.
Field Biologist Support
A qualified field biologist reviews the whole system rather than the last month of readings, checks the risk assessment is current and records conformity as well as non-conformity.
A documented check of the folder ahead of your audit, written in the language the standard uses, listing each gap with an owner and a date while there is still time to close it.
A field biologist can attend on audit day to answer technical questions directly, and any non-conformance raised gets a corrective action plan closed out through the portal.
The Other Standards
Most food sites hold BRCGS alongside another certification or a retailer specification. The documents are largely the same; the shape each standard asks for is not, so the file is built to satisfy the strictest in the set.
What clause 4.14 asks for and how Shield builds a programme to meet it, from survey to trend analysis.
Proportionate, achievable pest control for smaller UK food and drink producers, without BRCGS overhead.
Points-scored auditing with heavy emphasis on root cause analysis and the interpretation of trends.
Pest control as a prerequisite programme sitting inside your wider food safety management system.
GFSI-recognised certification, accepted across global supply chains and asking for the same evidence.
The records an environmental health officer asks to see, and where pest control sits in your HACCP plan.
Client Feedback
“Shield’s audit compliance support for our BRCGS certification has been invaluable. Their knowledge of the standards has made our audits much more streamlined.”
Food Manufacturing
“We’ve been using Shield’s Insectram reporting system and it has changed how we manage pest control. Real-time updates and trend analysis keep us proactive.”
Multi-site Facilities
“Shield’s commercial pest control service is impressive. Their technicians are professional and thorough, ensuring our warehouse remains pest-free.”
Warehousing
Areas We Cover
Based in Selby, Shield sets up and maintains BRCGS pest control files for food manufacturing, packing, storage and distribution sites across Yorkshire, the Humber and the North of England. Independent since 2002, BPCA registered, £10m public liability, 24-hour emergency response.
Let a Shield field biologist review your current pest control file against the BRC documentation list. We will show you where an auditor would raise a finding and set out what it takes to close each gap. No obligation.
A: As a minimum, an up-to-date plan of the full site identifying numbered device locations, identification of the baits and monitors in use, clearly defined responsibilities for site management and the contractor, details of the products used with instructions for their use and emergencies, any observed pest activity, and details of treatments. BRC best practice adds the contract, emergency contacts, a sightings form, the risk assessment, visit reports and trend analysis.
A: On site and under the company’s supervision at all times, not held by the contractor. An electronic file meets this where site staff can open every document on demand. With Insectram the file is live in the portal, and auditors can be given direct access for the audit period.
A: BRC guidance says the signed, dated plan should be reviewed for currency at least annually, and it should be amended whenever a device is added, moved or removed. The plan must match the bait checklist and what is physically on site, because a mismatch between the drawing and the wall is one of the most common pest control findings at audit.
A: UK food hygiene law requires every food business to have adequate procedures in place to control pests, and an environmental health officer will expect to see evidence that those procedures are working. BRCGS sets out the file in far more detail, but even an unaccredited site should be able to show its contract, plan, visit reports and the actions taken.
